Denise from Full House doesn't look like this anymore

She might have only technically been a minor Full House character, but Jurnee Smollett's antics as Denise — Michelle's ever-adorable partner in crime — are memorable for all the right reasons.

While unveiling that her character Denise was actually Little Richard's niece may have been a career highlight for many former-child stars, Jurnee has soared to even greater heights as an actor since her heady Full House days.

In fact, chances are you've probably been wowed by an adult Jurnee in another hit show without even realizing you were watching a grown-up Denise demonstrate her considerable talent. So, grab my hand and let's take a whirlwind tour through this often underappreciated actor's impressive resume.

A full house of her own

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When you look into her family background, It makes total sense that Jurnee was such a natural in Full House, despite only being the tender age of six when she first appeared on the show.

Jurnee is the fourth of six children who all happen to have been involved in the performing arts at some point in their lives, a dynamic that reflects the chaotic smattering of kids that made Full House such a classic family-friendly romp.

Just like the Full House posse, Jurnee and her family were incredibly close throughout their childhoods and beyond. Jurnee's brother Jussie explained to the New York Times that Smollett family affectionately refer to themselves as "Smoll Nation" because — in Jurnee's own words — they have their very "own culture."

Even in adulthood, Jurnee's brother Jussie remembers her special talent shining through from a very early age, he told the New York Times that "at a year old, she was like a mix of Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor. She was boss from the beginning."

Smollett star power

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Jurnee wasn't the only Smollett to bathe in the sitcom spotlight as a child star. In fact, all of her brothers and sisters had their very own short-lived show in 1994. Entitled On Our Own, the ABC sitcom cast the real-life siblings as brothers and sisters who had lost their parents and were being raised by their big brother — played by Ralph Louis Harris of Dreamgirls fame.

As the law of averages might lead you to expect, Jurnee wasn't the only one in her family to make the big time as an adult. Her older brother Jussie plays Jamal Lyon — the openly gay son in the Lyon family dynasty — on Fox's hit hip hop soap opera Empire.

While not all of the Smollett kids have chosen to pursue a life in showbiz — Jojo works at a non profit, Jocqui's part of a tech firm and Jake is a chef — they are still incredibly close and help each other with their careers whenever they can. For example, Jurnee and Jussie run a production company alongside their sister, Jazz, and it was through her that Jussie learned of the casting call for Empire.

The Smollett clan have also shown that blood is thicker than water by all banding together to support their brother Jake on a Food Network six-part series named Smollett Eats. Jurnee told the New York Post that the show is "really like a sneak-peek into what we like to do as a family."

Scooping up awards at the tender age of ten

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Jurnee was undeniably impressive in Full House, but by the age of 10, the child star was wowing the industry with her turn as the titular Eve Batiste in Kasi Lemmons's award-winning movie, Eve's Bayou.

Sinking her milk teeth into her role as Samuel L. Jackson's daughter, Jurnee clearly made a huge impression on her fellow cast members. Her on-screen aunt Debbi Morgan explained to the New York Times that "with a part like Eve, it had to be an exceptional child. It was something innate that Jurnee did up there on that screen. You can't teach that.”

While the adults around her were impressed with her performance, it was all just a day's work to the precocious and intelligent Jurnee at the time. The ten-year-old told the New York Times, ”My agent called and told my mommy about this movie that she thought was really good for me. She said Eve was me. So my mommy and me and my sister read the script and we talked about Eve and how I should portray her and what Eve was about.”

As with many things in her life, Eve's Bayou was a family affair for Jurnee and her real life younger brother Jake (pictured above), who starred as her on screen sibling Poe in the hard-hitting 1997 movie.

A '90s sitcom stalwart

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Jurnee wasn't just a member of the Full House family — she also appeared on The Cosby Show. While she was thrilled to be part of the show at the time, her experiences have been overshadowed by the allegations against Cosby. Jurnee explained to Buzzfeed that:

"I just look at the situation and everyone that's involved and everyone that's affected — there are so many people affected — and it's just sad to me…. I don't remember a lot, but as an adult, I just look at the situation and it's heartbreaking for everyone. I'm just so sad about it. I feel so sad for everyone involved."

Growing pains in the industry

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While Jurnee enjoyed well-rounded roles when she was a child star, she found it increasingly difficult to find roles that did female characters justice as she grew into adulthood. Like many women in the industry, Smollett-Bell became frustrated with being typecast as a mere accessory to a male-centric storyline, she told Buzzfeed that:

"It's been about finding roles that weren't set dressing, characters who weren't just the girlfriend. You don't want to be the earpiece for his problems where you have to help push the plot forward and your identity is directly connected to your male counterpart's storyline. You have no arc of your own and you're really irrelevant."

Rubbing shoulders with hollywood royalty

Alongside her work on the small screen, Jurnee Smollett-Bell's impassioned performances can also be enjoyed in a selection of movies. Through her forays onto the silver screen in films such as The Great Debaters (2007) and Hands of Stone (2016), Jurnee has rubbed shoulders with Hollywood royalty such as Robert De Niro, Usher, Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington.

Going underground for a higher profile

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Although she undoubtedly had silver screen success, Jurnee really stamped her name on the industry by returning to her TV roots as an adult, despite the fact that she initially aimed to solely appear in movies. Smollett-Bell explained to Buzzfeed that at one point in her career she stopped and said "no, I'm not doing television," but the star later changed her mind because "they're just writing more complex women in television."

One of these celebrated complex roles is Jurnee's turn as Jess Merriweather — a high school girl with an insatiable passion for football — in Friday Night Lights. In typical style, Jurnee used her experience of being surrounded by siblings to shape her role, telling GQ that she and her brothers "used to play touch football, where you put the little rag in your pocket."

You can also catch Jurnee in various other celebrated TV shows including True Blood, Parenthood and, most significantly, WGN's award-winningUnderground— a riveting drama that follows Georgia-based plantation slaves as they fight for their freedom.

Altruistic efforts

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Jurnee might have dedicated her career to acting, but she also still manages to find time to slot a hefty amount of charity work and activism into her schedule. Jurnee's passion for standing up for what she believes is right was inherited from her mother, Janet Smollett, who was active in the civil rights movement. Her brother Jussie told the New York Times, "My mom was in the movement with Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, and one of her first mentors was Julian Bond."

Although she values her passion for activism, Jurnee admits that it can be hard to square her robust morals with the roles that she is offered in the industry. She told the New York Times in that same article, "It makes it hard to just be an actor and to sell your soul, because you have this conscience. I think that's why I say no to projects, that's why Jussie says no to projects, and that's why we fight for the ones that we're told 'no' to."

A harmonious marriage

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Jurnee Smollett-Bell married musician Josiah Bell in an intimate ceremony at a Los Angeles botanical garden in October 2010. Speaking out to People magazine about the ceremony, Smollett-Bell described her big day as "beautiful, moving and personal."

Canadian born Josiah Bell has a well-established career of his own that began at an incredibly early age, just like that of his wife. By the age of 15, Bell had already penned an astonishing six songs for Grammy-nominated Gospel legend Vickie Winans from his parents' house. Counting celebrities such as Jada Pinkett-Smith as fans, Bell continues to produce his own music and released his last EP in 2016.

Jurnee credits the success of her relationship to the fact that she and Bell were friends before they realized they had a romantic connection. "We were best friends before we started even dating, so we had this really great foundation. I think one of the challenging things about any lasting relationship is that you have to be so vulnerable," she toldThe Hollywood Reporter. "I think as human beings we try to hide our flaws and try to present this perfect person, this person we wish we were to our spouse when that causes so many troubles."

The pitter patter of a tiny Smollett-Bell

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Juggling her successful career with motherhood, Jurnee Smollett-Bell is also mom to baby Hunter Zion Bell. The Underground actor announced the little one's arrival on Instagram in November 2016 and has sparingly shared a few adorable snaps with her fans since his birth.

Speaking out to People magazine, Jurnee explained that the way her son is helping her see the world afresh is her favorite thing about motherhood. "He's teaching me so much about myself. He's teaching me so much about love," the proud mother explained. "I see myself in him, and I start to love that about myself even more. It's like I see the world differently now, through his eyes. He makes me reassess, really, what matters."